In support for the Heads Up Weekends campaign, Premier League clubs have been highlighting how their mental-health programmes help people in their local communities.
Since February 2019, Burnley FC in the Community's Schools' Mental Wellbeing Project, supported by the Premier League and the Professional Footballers' Association, has been helping young people with their mental wellbeing in seven schools.
A full-time Burnley psychological wellbeing practitioner supports students identified as needing help with their mental wellbeing, in both one-to-one and group settings, as well as raising awareness of mental health at school, educating parents, students and teachers.
"One of the problems that we found is that when children presented us with mental health problems, we're teachers, and we're good at talking about 1066 and IR verbs and quadratic equations, but children have got really complex issues now," said Richard Varey, headteacher of Blessed Trinity RC College.
Project impact
In only 12 months, the programme has had a significant impact, with 86 per cent of the 572 students receiving support saying they feel less anxious and 81 per cent improving their self-esteem.
Project ambassador and Burnley captain Bee Mee went to Blessed Trinity to see how it has made a difference.
Harrison explained how the Schools' Mental Wellbeing Project will benefit students like him.
"It's made them feel that it's not uncommon to feel down or to feel anxious," he said. "It's also made people feel a lot more comfortable to speak about it in our school."
Fans are encouraged to visit HeadsTogether for tips on how to #KickOffAConversation about mental health.
